By Lawrence Sunday Ogwang
Today, it is worth noting that youth are defining users of social
media. It is argued that youth are always on social media sites to look for
ways of satisfying their curiosity. This is consistent with the Uses and
Gratification theory. This theory seeks to understand why people pursue the
media, the way they do it and what they use it for. It explores how individuals
deliberately seek out media to fulfill certain needs or goals such as
entertainment, relaxation, or socializing.
Several studies, however, have revealed that over utilization of social
media has a profound influence on the lives and academic performance of many
youths who are students. In line with the above, using the lens of Uses and
Gratification Theory, this study sought to shed light on the role of social
media on the academic performance of Uganda Martyrs` University students. It
aims at clarifying different stakeholders’ relationship between social media
usage and academic performance and to harness the full potential of social
media. This study examines the role of social media in students’ academic
endeavors and ultimately their academic performance through their reported
perceptions and reflections. It also examines factors that might influence the
nature of this relationship and its tentative impact on the academic
performance of Uganda Martyrs` University students.
The researcher used methodical approach that is a combination of
questionnaire and interview to collect data from the field. Thereafter, the study
employed methodological triangulation, combining both qualitative and
quantitative methods to analyze data. The qualitative analysis has been used to
give a complete and detailed description in the form of words and pictures
while the quantitative analysis has been used to classify features, count them
and construct statistical models in an attempt to explain data gathered from
the field. Interestingly,
this study revealed that there are three different students’ opinion of the
social media effect on their academic performance, according to the survey
analysis, the students are divided into three groups. The first group believes
that social media has a positive effect on their academic performance, the
second group believes that social media has a negative effect on their academic
performance, and the third group believes that social media does not have any
effects on their academic performance. The study
concludes with recommendations to the Government, University, Parents and
Students. These are included at end of this research project in chapter five.
Table of
Contents
. v
ABSTRACT. vi
CHAPTER ONE. 1
Introduction to the study. 1
1.1 Background of the study. 1
1.2 Statement of the problem.. 3
1.3 Objective. 3
1.3.1
General Objective. 3
1.3.2
Specific objectives. 4
1.4 Research Questions. 4
1.5 Definition of key terms. 4
Social
media. 4
Students. 4
Academic performance. 5
1.6 Significance of the study. 5
1.7 Justification of the study. 5
1.8 Scope of the study. 6
1.9 Conclusion. 6
CHAPTER TWO: 7
LITERATURE REVIEW... 7
2.0 Introduction. 7
2.1 The Concept of social media. 7
Forms of social media adapted from Grahl (2012) as
cited by Alwagait et al. (2015) 8
2.2 How social media facilitate academic performance. 9
2.3 Effectiveness of social media in enhancing academic
performance. 13
2.4 Challenges posed by social media to students` academic
performance. 16
2.5 Theoretical framework. 19
Uses and gratification theory. 19
2.6 Conclusion. 20
CHAPTER THREE: 21
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 21
Introduction. 21
3.1 Research Approach. 21
3.2 Research Design. 21
3.3 Area and population of the study. 22
3.4 Sample selection and size. 22
3.4.1 Sampling technique. 22
3.5 Research methods. 23
3.5.1 Research tools. 23
3.6 Data analysis and presentation. 23
3.7 Gender consideration. 24
3.8 Ethical consideration. 24
3.9 Limitations and challenges. 24
3.10 Conclusion. 25
CHAPTER FOUR: 26
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
OF FINDINGS. 26
4.0 Introduction. 26
4.1 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents. 26
4.1.1 Gender of the respondents. 26
4.1.2 Age brackets of the Respondents. 27
4.1.3 Faculties of the Respondents. 28
4.2. Information background on the use of social media. 29
4.2.1 Social platform mostly used by respondents. 29
4.2.2 Place of social media access. 30
4.2.3 Number of hours spent on social media. 31
4.3 Findings in relation to the different specific
objectives. 32
4.3.1 How does social media enhance academic
performance for students?. 32
4.3.2 How effective is social media in enhancing
the academic performance of students. 34
4.3.3 Challenges social media poses to students in
their academic endeavours. 37
4.4 Discussion of findings. 40
CHAPTER FIVE: 42
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 42
5.0 Introduction. 42
5.1 Summary. 42
5.2 Conclusion. 43
5.3 Recommendations. 45
5.3.1 Students. 45
5.3.2 University Administration. 46
5.3.3 Uganda Communications Commission and
Telephone companies. 46
5.3.4 Government 47
APPENDICES. 48
APPENDIX I: References. 48
APPENDIX II: Questionnaire. 52
Over the past years, Sponcil and
Gitimu (2013) argue that social media have gained so much growth and fame
worldwide to the extent that many researchers are now interested in learning
more about these social platforms and their impact on the community. Numerous
people, especially the youth and students according to Hynan
et al. (2014) are more excited about these social
media platforms because of the satisfaction they derive from the consumption of
these social media content.
As a result of this, many scholars have researched
different aspects of social media concerning the life of students in different
institutions of learning and their findings have revealed a multiplicity of
what social media can do in the lives of its users. To add on the body of
existing knowledge from different researchers, this study sets out to explore the
Role of Social Media in Enhancing Students` Academic Performance, using the case
of Uganda Martyrs University Students.
The research is divided into five different chapters. Chapter one mainly
handles the introductory part of the study, while Chapter Two focuses on what
other authors or scholars say about the phenomenon of Social Media. This is
titled Literature review. Chapter three covers the methodology that is used in
the research process. Chapter four is about data presentation, analysis and discussion
of findings and finally, Chapter five gives the
summary, conclusion and recommendations based on the findings.
According to Camilia et al. (2013), the Internet and in particular social media
applications such as Facebook, YouTube and many others, are overtaking the
world and could be regarded as a global consumer phenomenon. Social media usage,
therefore, is one of the most common activities among children, adolescents,
and students at a higher level of education. It offers today’s youth a
threshold for entertainment, communication and it is becoming one of the main
platforms for accessing information and news.
These advances in Internet technologies and social
media applications have stimulated how we interact, communicate, learn, and
build knowledge. For much of the connected world, it infuses nearly every
aspect of our existence from shopping and banking, to communication and
education among many other pursuits (Tariq et
al. 2012).
The adoption of social media among the younger
generation according to Vorderer (2016), could be attributed to their up-to-date
knowledge of technology and the convenient accessibility to these social
networking tools. This encourages them to use social media not only for
receiving and retrieving information, but also for being online and connecting
with others, and from being consumers and participants to “prosumers” which
means that they consume and produce media content on the social media platform
(Obar et al. 2015).
Social
media channels have nearly been everywhere since the early 2000s at exponential
rates (Ahmad 2018). However, it is vital to capitulate that this phenomenon
started a long way back as early as the 1840s. Since then, it has seen many
social sites sprout and grow to something significant.
As social sites kept growing, the way people
use them has also been evolving from one to another including maintaining the
social fabric in the society. According to Ahmad (2018), everyday people spend
more time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp and other sites
just to maintain their social links. It's
hard to imagine a world without it, and we tend to think that before these
sites especially Facebook, social media wasn't a thing.
With
the significant growth in the social sites, the young people especially
students have ventured into these sites for many reasons including maintenance
of the social fabric. Lately, social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube have proven to be major sources of academic materials to students
(Guraya, 2016).
The big question would be how often and how many of the university students
know this fact and use it to meet that interest? And if that is true, how does
social media enhance students’ academic performance?
These
questions are some of the most compelling issues behind this investigation into
the role social media play in enhancing students’ academic performance,
notwithstanding other independent variables that may contribute to the same
performance of the students academically. This research focuses on the students of Uganda Martyrs University- Nkozi.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Although a very large number of people exist online,
including social media, who focus on education, this might not be the case for some
university students (Tariq et al. 2012). Even though the majority of students are
active users of social media networks, most of them do not use social media for
academic purposes.
Many scholars like Tariq (2012), have argued that technologies might have severe negative
consequences on social network addicts. They, for example, fear that social
networks grab the total attention and concentration of the students and divert
them towards non-educational, unethical, and inappropriate actions such as
useless chatting.
However, according to Maton and Kervin (2008), using
media technology can help students enhance their academic performance. Yet,
many educators and parents are worried that their children and students are
spending too much time using social media networks. Some institutions and
instructors ban the use of social media in classrooms believing that it
negatively impacts students’ attention, engagement, and accordingly their
academic performance will be affected.
While some studies emphasise the positive impact and
opportunities a student can get from social media technology, a greater number
of scholars are more focused on the negative roles of social media in the life
of students. Over generalizations regarding the impact of social media,
however, are not justified (Rambe,
2012). More needs to be
discovered about the variables that influence this relationship and about
strategies that help youths and higher education institutions to harness the
full potential of these omnipresent technologies.
Despite the above studies, little academic attention
has been paid to explore this in Uganda. This study aims to address this
research gap on how social media enhances the academic performance of
university students within the framework of Uganda and especially of Uganda
Martyrs University Students.
The general objective of this study is to find out the
role of social media in enhancing students’
academic performance in higher institutions of
learning.
1. To establish how social media has simplified
academic performance for Uganda Martyrs University Students
2. To assess the effectiveness of social media in
enhancing the academic performance for Uganda Martyrs University Students
3. To explore the challenges social media poses to the
academic performance of Uganda Martyrs University students
(to explore the challenges social media poses to students’ academic performance
in UMU)
4.
To suggest possible solutions to the challenges social media poses to students
in theirs studies
1. How does social media simplify academic performance for Uganda
Martyrs university (UMU) students?
2. How effective is social media in enhancing the
academic performance of students?
3. What are the
challenges social media poses to students in their academic endeavours?
4.
What are the possible solutions to the challenges social media poses to
students?
In
the context of this research, social media is used to mean a collection of
applications Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, YouTube and websites that
link people to share information and alert people about any event through
social networking (S'Tayo et
al., 2019).
In
the framework of this research, the term students have been used to refer to
learners who have enrolled in a higher educational institution of learning.
This focuses on students of Uganda Martyrs University.
For
this research, the term has been used to refer to what each student gets in any
class assessment in terms of marks that also translate to either high- or
low-Grade Point Average (GPA) at the end of the semester.
This research contributes
to the local literature available and acts as a point of departure to those
academicians who will intend to do a supplementary line of investigation on
this subject of social media and its double-edged impact on the lives of the
youth in Uganda upon consulting this research.
The study
findings, insights and conclusions furnish enlightenment to the parents and
teachers in different schools and institutions of higher learning on how to
guide the youth in their usage of the social media constructively.
This research is
of great significance to the students themselves if they take the precautions
laid down in this research to be careful enough about the dark sides of
ever-blossoming social media as they explore the different social platforms in
their curiosity.
The findings from
this research are of great relevance to the government of Uganda in their
policy of fighting the misuse of social media by the youth and if need be, find
some additional ways of regulating the use of this wolf in sheep’s skin as a
means of protecting its young citizens from getting lost in the world of
technology.
Many
intellectual works have been published about social media and its impact on the
youth. Most of these works mainly focus on the negative impact of the same and
few if any, focuses on the positive aspects of it and these have not been
exhaustive. Scholars like
Tariq (2012), have argued that technologies
might have severe negative consequences on social networks addicts. They, for
example, fear that social networks grab the total attention and concentration
of the students and divert them towards non-educational, unethical, and inappropriate
actions such as useless chatting. However, technological determinists argue
that technology is meant to aid man in his struggles but not to destroy him.
A lot has been
left out in as much as the impact of social media is concerned especially the
impression of the same phenomenon on the academic life of the students who are
mostly youth. This unattended-to area in the field of social media is the
motivating factor behind this study. Far from condemning students’ involvement
in using social media, this research is intended to focus on the Role of Social
Media in enhancing students’ academic performance. It may not be so exhaustive
on the matter and that it also allows those interested in the same area of
study to carry out their research in related areas.
The content latitude of this study is limited
to the role of social media in enhancing students’ academic performance. The
sample population is restricted to the students of Uganda Martyrs University.
The reason for this sample choice is based on the assumption that majority of
students have smartphones and use social media.
This research report has supposedly
taken six months that is, from March 2021. After the submission and approval of
the proposal, the researcher went to the field to look for relevant data that
is in line with the topic of the research. After collecting the data,
researcher settled down to organize, analyze, interpret and present the
finding. Thereafter, the recommendations and conclusion were made. All these have
roughly taken one year.
This chapter covered mostly the
general introduction to the research project. It majorly looked at the
statement of the problem which included the knowledge gap, the objectives and
the significance of study among others. The next chapter gives the literature
review. It focuses on the existing
literature covering the subject matter of the research topic and how each
author explores these related ideas.
Conscious of the fact that many
people have ventured into the subject of social media and its related impact on
the lives of its users, this chapter strives to consider and review the
existing literature from books, magazines, journals, newspapers and other sources
of information related to social media. It has principally looked at the
concept and the usage of social media by students and how it enhances their
academic performance. It also considered the challenges students face in their
use of the said social networking sites (SNS).
The
word social media has been defined by different people in different ways. In
all these definitions, the essential things remain the same.
According
to Asad et al. (2016), Social Media
means a collection of applications (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, or
YouTube etc.) and websites that link people to share information and alert
people about any event through social networking. The above definition includes
the different social media platforms and the general purpose and the role it
plays in networking. It, however, does not include the aspect of the internet
which is the key aspect in social media, therefore, leaving this definition
wanting.
Meanwhile,
Mageto (2017) defines social media as all applications and websites or blogs
that enable people around the globe to interconnect via the internet, chat, and
share content, video call among many other functionalities it offers to its
users. This definition, however, is somewhat favorable because it includes the
essential element in the use of social media, the internet.
From
the two definitions, however, social media according to the researcher is a
collection of Internet-based platforms and communities that allow users to
interact with each other online by creating and sharing videos,
messages and some user-generated contents. These web fora according to
Christenson (2013) include Facebook - an online community that allows individual users to
create personal profiles, share photos and videos, and post on each other's
profile pages, or Timelines. Twitter - an Internet service that allows people to publish quick
updates and see posts or "tweets" of other users they are
following in real-time. LinkedIn - A professional networking website
that allows users to create profiles, post resumes, and communicate with other
professionals and job-seekers. Pinterest - an online community that allows users to share ideas and
photos with others by "pinning" items and describing them on their
profile pages. Some other commonly and widely used social media platforms
include WhatsApp, Snapchat, Viber, Instagram and many others. All these
examples fall within the different forms of social media here given in the
table below:
|
Forms
of social media sites
|
Description
|
|
Social Networking Sites (SNS)
|
Services
in which users set up a profile to establish a connection with friends or
other users, who have similar backgrounds or interests. The profile contains
users’ personal information. SNS provides various ways for users to interact
with one another. Examples of SNS include Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber and
LinkedIn.
|
|
Bookmarking sites
|
Services
which allow users to save, search and organize links to various Internet
resources and websites. Some services will allow the tagging of links for
them to be shared easily as well as being searched for. Examples of
bookmarking sites are Diigo and Delicious.
|
|
Microblogging sites
|
Services
which combine SNS and blogging but the messages exchanged are limited in
terms of size. Users have to subscribe to the services. Examples of
microblogging sites include Twitter.
|
|
Media sharing sites
|
Which
allow users to upload and share media such as videos and photos as well as
allowing users to comment and tag media. Examples of media sharing services
include YouTube and Flickr.
|
|
Social news sites
|
Services
that allow other users to vote on news articles and links to external
articles, which are posted by users. The news articles that get the most
votes are displayed more prominently on the site. Examples of social news
sites include Digg and Reddit.
|
|
Blogging sites
|
Blogs
are like online diaries of thoughts, which allow other users to post comments
on the blog postings. Forums allow registered users to have conversations
with other users by post messages. Examples of blogging sites include Word
Press and Blogger.
|
While
social media networks collect a lot of personal data about the users, they also
afford the privacy of the users. For example, the visibility of online profiles
depends on the social media network site privacy terms and conditions. Boyd and
Ellison (2007) agree that LinkedIn controls what the user can display and see
according to the user’s subscription and paid fees. On the contrary, Facebook
users’ profiles are available to all other users in the same network, unless a
profile owner decides to change the privacy options. Moreover, private
messaging, comments and friend’s features differ from one social media network
site to another depending on the feature and user base (Boyd and Ellison,
2007).
With
all the features social media provides, they have facilitated the lives of
millions of people. Although they are easily accessible and despite the
tremendous opportunities they offer, social media can have their drawbacks.
Issues of privacy, detachment from reality and being the target of advertisers
are some of the main concerns. However, they are creating a new communication
landscape that is yet to be discovered and used especially in the field of
academics.
With
the explosion of social media sites that causes information super-highway and
whose incorporation in educational fields is relatively new, Apuke and Iyendo (2017)
argue that a growing body of literature debates has emerged to examine the
social networking influence on students’ academic performance and most of such,
demonstrates a positive impact. There is always too much content and
information provided by these social media sites and careful deciphering and
utilization of these content can facilitate academic performance. However, using
these social media sites to facilitate the learning process can take several
forms and utilize different tools. University educators propose that social
media can have a positive influence on interaction, engagement, knowledge
building, and sense of community (Rovai, 2001).
The
use of social media in education provides students with the ability to get more
useful information, to connect with learning groups and other educational
systems that make education convenient. Social network tools offer students and institutions with multiple opportunities
to improve learning method. In school, the use of online platforms such as
school website will give students the right access to quality information about
the school environment, departments, faculties, rules, and regulations. It has
been observed that social media has a wider and faster means of circulating
information not only to the students of an institution but also to the
generality of the public.
Due
to its nature, social network sites have been used to bridge communication and
connections among teachers and students as well as build rapport through
encouraging discussions. Several studies
have established that teachers/lecturers are now utilizing social networking
technologies for teaching and learning, as such transforming informal learning
into formal learning (Apuke and Iyendo, 2017). This new trend that encourages
discussions can facilitate academic performance especially among students who
may find it hard to say their opinions among peers. Social media sites, therefore, steps in to
bridge the gap. Winner and Dominick (2013) put it that, introverted students
who are not able to raise questions before peers at school could engage
themselves in online group learning with less or no anxiety attached.
Akin
investigations have also documented four major advantages of social media
employment in higher education to include, enhancing the relationship,
improving learning motivation, offering personalized course material and developing
collaborative efforts (Chugh and Ruhi, 2017). Correspondingly, documented
research evidence has shown that social networking activities have the
possibility of enhancing students’ contact as well as improving their
participation in class.
Indeed,
according to the researcher, integrating social media into the students`
learning process as observed by the above scholars, provides them with an
opportunity to take control of their learning activities, which in turn boost
their confidence. This student-centered learning approach is what is changing
the culture of many of today`s learning classrooms. Thus, Apuke
(2016) argues that social media such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp,
YouTube, and Skype have facilitated communication and learning process because
a large number of social technologies provided on the internet are free or
require a little accessing fee which has encouraged wider utilization and adoption. As such, through the internet, students can
form their page, access news, as well as lecture notes from an email sent by
lecturers, hence, facilitating their academic performance.
According
to Ortia and leach (2009), students’ academic life has moved to a different
dimension and level since the introduction of these social media network sites
and several studies have affirmed that social media play an important role on students`
academic performance in higher education. Indeed, social media has contributed
greatly to facilitating learning in the 21st century. It is shown that a
greater percentage of students including those at the PhD level commonly use
social media to ameliorate their studies (Khan, 2010).
Albeit
it is easy to agree with this scholarly finding, caution must be taken to
unveil the fact that much as students at different level of studies use social
media, many studies have also come out to criticize how students use the said
platforms, calling it a nuisance to the students’ academic life. Kuppuswamy and Narayan (2010) emphasize that social network
sites distract the attention and concentration of students toward learning and
convert it towards non-educational activities such as useless chatting. This,
therefore, calls for judicious sheaving of these platforms if they must
facilitate good academic performance among students.
Even
though some scholars discredit social media because students use these sites to
engage in unnecessary chatting, a study conducted by Jain et al. (2012), reveal that students benefit more from chatting with
other students, teachers and external sources to acquire knowledge. In the same direction, Yunus and Salehi
(2012) argue that students gain more vocabulary, improve their writing skills
and reduce their spelling mistakes through social media usage. In fact, as an
educational tool, social media enriches and facilitate learning by allowing
both students and teachers to connect in new and very exciting ways thereby
encouraging flexible mode of learning.
It
is stated that flexible learning expands the choice on what, when and how
people learn. It supports different styles of learning including E-learning
which is highly patronized across the globe (Pappas, 2013). It is further
buttressed by Arquero and Esteban (2013) that social media undoubtedly generate
new opportunities to engage students in higher education as they are remarkably
effective at connecting people and facilitating the exchange of information. It
is therefore clear and indisputable from these studies that social media usage
in the educational sector cannot be underestimated since its introduction.
Coupled
with the above scholarly finding, social media also fosters the academic
performance of students by allowing them to create learning groups. This
according to Gorhe (2019) enable professors to connect with the students to
share important instructions for the class as well as necessary study material
for the students. Students can also share their viewpoints, innovative ideas or
even doubts related to studies with their classmates and professors on these
groups. This helps students to actively participate in such group discussions
and this, in turn, will help to improve their knowledge.
In the same vein, professors can also provide
a link for students to upload their homework or assignments on such study
groups. All of this will save a lot of time and effort of students which can be
utilized for studying. Social media helps students to collaborate if they are
working together on some group project. However, experience has shown that
social media groups hardly meet the intention since students often divert the
intention of the group to sometimes their personal and sometimes useless chats
and discussion. This does not mean that the above finding does not hold water
but calls for the fact that social media groups would work best if clear
principles and rules are governing its operation.
Imperative to note is that social
media platform like YouTube facilitates students` academic performance by
providing a variety of visual educational objects and movies. Therefore, taking
into account the importance of using video and visual objects for teaching,
some universities utilize YouTube as a complementary teaching tool (Olasina, 2017).
Students use social media platforms such as YouTube with millions of
educational videos, which help students to broaden their scope of knowledge as
well as develop various other good skills and talents. If they find some good
and informative videos related to their studies, they can share it with their
friends or classmates who can benefit by watching them (Gorhe, 2019).
These visual objects can aid students` understanding of the subject. Nevertheless,
the authors raise safety concerns about the environment of online videos and
the volatility of the video-sharing service. Therefore, in using YouTube as an
educational tool, students are most likely to divert their attention to other
video content that has nothing if not little to do with their academic
materials.
According to Olasina (2017),
YouTube is one social media site that provides the user with a variety of
content both related and unrelated to the study areas. Discipline is a
requirement for its use if one must benefit from such a site otherwise, instead
of facilitating a student`s academic performance, it can as well be destructive
to an indiscipline user who knows not what he or she wants from the social
site.
Today,
Yasmin (2015) believes that it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of
social media on the academic performance of students. He argues that technology
is booming rapidly from year to year, and the younger generation are the ones
mostly caught in this rapid change. This young generation according to Antonson
et al. (2014) is called digital natives referring to the people who were
born after 1980 when digital media existed while those born before this time,
he calls them digital immigrants because they modified their lives to digital
media. These digital natives are at the forefront of this research since most
of them are at school and social media puts everything at their disposal.
Since
one of the key functions of social media is research, Pardo (2013) considers
that social media offers a platform for innovation to students. This he says,
allows its users to express their opinions about how they feel towards the
information being published. He adds that social media is also a platform that
allows students to interact with one another, with their teachers and
communities that share their same education, affirming that these types of
interaction are “an essential part of how humans learn. This ego makes social
media effective in enhancing the academic performance of its users.
Although
Pardo (2013) views social media platforms as fertile grounds for innovative
changes, it should also be clear that this may work only for those whom
Antonson (2014) calls digital natives who know how to utilize the platforms
well. But for those who only seek to go for what Rideout (2012, P. 5) refers to
as “entertainment media”, may miss out on this innovative opportunity that
social networking sites offer to its users.
As
considerable as social media is applauded for providing effective content for
its users, according to the research done to find out opinions regarding the
effect entertainment media has on the students’ academic performance; a great
number of the teachers believe that social media negatively impact students’
attention span. Some of the respondents who are teachers believe that social media has negatively impacted on students` writing
skills, due to their regular use of slang language and word abbreviations
(Rideout, 2012). Still some teachers believed it impacted both their
face-to-face communication skills and their critical thinking skills. However,
the research also found out that entertainment media effectively improves
writing skills of students, ability to look-up information and find it, and
more so, teachers believe it improved their skills in multi-tasking effectively
(Rideout, 2012).
Concerning
multi-tasking, however, Krischner and Karpinski (2010)
noted that some students do not have control on their
social media while engaged in academic activities and that they spend more time
on these networks than they do studying or sleeping. They point out that
empirical research suggests the negative impact of multitasking, or attempting
to simultaneously process different sources of information, on performance. Although
they underscore that this leads to increased study time of the students, it
also leads to an increased number of mistakes on assignments due to divided
attention in the name of multi-tasking. Junco (2013) examines
the relationship between Facebook activity, time is taken for class preparation
and overall GPA for 1839 students. Hierarchical linear regression analyses
indicated that time spent on Facebook was significantly negatively correlated
with overall GPA, but only weakly related to time spent on class preparation.
Moreover, using Facebook to search for information was a positive predictor of
GPA while time spent on socializing was a negative predictor.
According to O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson (2011) social media
effectively enhances students` academic performance by providing platforms to
individual users to understand themselves by engaging with others, and becoming
creative through blogging. This leads to better outcomes in their school work.
They argue that using social media allows students to improve their learning
since they have the chance to share knowledge and conduct group projects more
efficiently (O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson, 2011). This view is visibly clear
that when students are exposed to social media platforms, through sharing and
engaging with others, they obtain new knowledge from others and above all, it
improves their learning which can easily translate into good academic
performance.
Other
than just providing effective content for improved academic performance, social
media by its nature also equip its users with social capital in the form of
friends that can influence one’s academic performance. According to Lavy
(2012), research was conducted to determine the effect of the type of friends on
social media platforms of middle-school students. They divided the types of
friends into categories. Reciprocal friends who are friends that have something
in common with each other, such as academics and interests. A second group was
the non-reciprocal friends, those who turned down the friendship offer of
another student. It was found out that students with reciprocal friends in
their class had a significant positive effect on their test scores. On the
other hand, students who had no common friends had low test scores.
The
above argument informs this investigation that if students are in contact with
friends who share the same interests, goals and education on social media, then
they are more likely to help each other to perform well in their studies, due
to motivation and other factors. Therefore, one of the effectiveness of social
media is the ability to provide a platform to users to create social capital or
friends who can help in academic issues by sharing content online which can
translate to good GPA in the end as supported by Mowafy (2018) in his research
on: The Effects of Social Media on the Academic Performance of Nile University
Students, basing on the objective of establishing the relationship between
academic performance in terms of Grade Point Average (GPA) and the use of
social media among students. He argues that social interaction with friends
with similar interests in education can easily enhance one’s academic
performance by raising the GPA.
The
ubiquity of social media platforms is no more apparent than at universities.
Social media sites are increasingly visible in higher education settings as
instructors look to technology to mediate and enhance their instruction as well
as promote active learning for students. Many scholars argue for the purposeful
integration of social media as an educational tool. But be that as it may, research
has shown that in many parts of the world today,
students' academic performance is facing neglect and challenges since the
advent of social networking sites because they dedicate more attention to
social media than they do to their studies (Apuke,
2016).
According
to Olubiyi (2012), students are so engrossed in the social media that they are
almost 24 hours online. Even in classrooms and lecture theatres, it has been
observed that some students are always busy pinging, Facebooking, while
lectures are on. Accordingly, Asemah et
al. (2013) recount that it is a common sight to see a youth, chatting at
sensitive and highly organized places like church, mosque and lecture venues.
Some are so carried away that even as they are walking along the highway, they
keep chatting. Hence, most students` academic performance suffers a setback as
a result of distraction from social media. Likewise, the use of these sites
also affects students` use of English and Grammar because they are now used to
short forms of writing rather than the conventional way (Obi et al. 2012).
The
above scholarly opinions cover the fact that students don’t use social media
judiciously as it ought to be. Surely, careless use of the said platforms is
certainly detrimental to the users’ academic life. As observed from other
scholars, the trend of this research agrees with the view of Asemah et al. (2013) that social media is
destructive since it takes away the attention of its users from things that
matter most like academics, although it is also agreed that social media is a
form of technological development that is in place to aid the work of man as
supported by Marshall (1964) in his theory of Technological Determinism. The
key thing here is that users of the said media are careless in the way they use
it especially those who are addicted to it, using it every time.
Social media users often time experience
poor performance academically (Khan, 2009). Similarly, Englander et al. (2010) postulate that social
media is negatively associated with academic performance of students and is a
lot more pronounced than its advantages. Internet addiction consequently gave
rise in internet usage within the last couple of decades.
Nalwa and Anand (2003) observed that
addicted users prefer using internet setting to attain satisfaction as will be
later discussed in the framework of Uses and Gratification theory but also to back
their personal and professional profiles other than educational things which
ultimately leads to poor academic performance.
In
the same vein, Karpinski (2009) points out that social media users bestow less
time to their studies in comparison to non-users. Karpinski and Duberstein
(2009) agree that among various unique distractions of this generation, Social
media remains a major distraction of the current generation, hence posing a
great challenge to students` academic performance.
As already discussed above, Karpinski and
Duberstein (2009) agrees to the predicament of social media. Social sites have
proven to be destructive to students’ academic life as the above scholars have
clearly spelt it out. Destructive here is to be understood as a way in which
social media takes away the attention of its users from other activities.
Another real issue to be dealt with here
is the point of addiction as Nalwa and Anand (2003) observed. In its proper
context, addiction here must be understood as unrestrained urge to use the said
social sites irrespective of the consequences. Therefore, one of the most obvious challenges
that social media poses to students’ academic performance emanates from
addiction to the said social networking sites. Morahan and Schumacher (2000)
explain that social media addiction seriously harms a person’s life including
one's academic life.
This
phenomenon has become a source of worry to many who believe in knowledge and skill
acquisition. Jeong (2005) noted that
internet addiction is significantly and negatively related to poor students’
academic performance, as well as emotional attributes.
On
the internet, students engage in a variety of activities some of which may be
potentially addictive (Kuss and Griffiths, 2011). The mass appeal of social
media on the internet could be a cause for concern, particularly when attending
to the gradually increasing amount of time students spend online.
Undergraduates spend more time on Facebook, Twitter and other social media
through smartphones that are now in abundance among these youths. Many students
cannot go for two-three hours without checking and updating their profiles on
these social networks even at the detriment of other activities such as
educational and career pursuit.
Itodo
(2011) hypothesizes that there seem to be an alarming rate of social networking
obsession among students today; a trend that could affect their academic,
social and spiritual lives negatively if not properly controlled. Many
concerned parents have expressed grave concern that they could hardly get the attention
of their children as they seem to have been carried away by the fascinating
world of social networks. Some youths are such social freaks that they have now
engraved out for themselves a world of fantasy and illusion far detached from
reality. Bello (2012) postulates that if the dangerous trend of social media
network obsession is left unchecked could further affect an already collapsing
education system in the world.
The
above intellectual judgment has constructively informed this investigation to
the effect that too much obsession with social media sites will help pull down
the already disintegrating education system. Adding an opinion to this view,
one of the reasons why students are performing poorly in school these days
might not be farfetched. While some innocent lecturers can quickly take the
blame, one might think harder if the phrase “Facebook frenzy” has not been heard
of. Attention has been shifted from visible to invisible friends, while important
ventures like study and writing are affected in the process.
Relatedly,
in a study of 884 students of different universities in Nigeria, Olowu &
Seri (2012) indicated that students in Nigeria are spending too much time on
social networking sites at the detriment of other necessary things such as
their studies. They explained that Youths’ use of these social networking sites
even points towards obsession. The youths have made social media their top
priority and continue using the platforms to feel satisfied.
Similarly,
in another study carried out on 122 university students on Facebook and
Academic Performance in Nigeria Universities, Emmanuel & Musa (2012),
tested six hypotheses to know the effect of Facebook on the academic performance
of students in selected universities. The study tested among other hypotheses
that the more time a student spends on Facebook, the lower his or her grade
point average will be. Olubiyi (2012) posits that the bone of contention of
social media is the obsessive attitude of youths towards its use. He pointed
out that students waste their time through idle chats and other immoral acts.
Students are so engrossed in the social media networks that they are almost 24
hours online.
Another challenge that social media poses to
students’ academic performance is information overload regularly called
information super-highway. According to Sadiku et al. (1999), information overload
is a symptom of the high-tech age, where too much information is given for one person to absorb in a world of
expanding digital technology which in most cases is more dangerous than not. It
primarily comes from the gigantic amount of content on the Internet, including
search engine results, blogs and social media.
However, the most common reasons behind modern information overload Sadiku et al (1999) argue, are huge
volumes of new information being
constantly created, the pressure to create and compete in information provision leading to a
quantity over quality effect in many industries. This overload is aggravated by
the fact that the internet allows for any kind of information to be uploaded
online. Students face the challenge when they go to social media to look for
information that they want and they end up getting too much than they want and
sometimes they even get wrong information because of this information overload
or info-super-highway.
Although information overload is regarded
as a universal problem especially for consumers of internet contents, it is also important to note that
information super-highway can as well be advantageous to a student who has
command of media literacy because of the varied content it gives to the
consumers of online content. This can as well be helpful to students’ academic
performance provided that they aggressively filter the huge information they
get online.
This
research is anchored on The Uses and Gratification theory (UGT). As was
previously mentioned, social media offers today’s youth a portal for
entertainment and communication and it is becoming one of the main platforms
for gaining satisfaction, accessing information and news. According to Olise
and Makka (2013), uses and gratification theory was propounded by Elihu Katz et al. in 1974. Basically, the theory
places more vehemence on the utilization and satisfaction derived from a
certain media rather than the effect the media exerts on an individual (Idakwo, 2011). This theory
focuses on the fulfilment or benefits that attract and hold an individual to a
particular media base on social, psychological, cognitive, effectiveness as
well as personal and entertainment needs (Grant, 2005).
UGT assumes that the audience is
active and its media use is goal-oriented. Above all, the initiative in linking
need gratification to a specific medium choice rests with the audience member.
It further assumes that the media compete with other resources for need
satisfaction. Unlike other theoretical perspectives, UGT assumes
that people have
enough self-awareness of their media use, interests, and motives to be able to provide
researchers with an accurate picture of that use. Finally, value judgments of media content can
only be assessed by the audience. Generally, the Uses and Gratification approach
focuses on why and how people use social media to satisfy their needs (Larose et al. 2001).
Relating this theory to the current study, it
is apparently clear that university students use social networking sites for
various reasons such as physical, intellectual and psychological, depending on
the gratification derived from it. Some
of them use it for chatting while others to retrieve educational information. These
students chose and utilize a particular social media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp,
YouTube, etc.) based on how well each one helps them meet specific needs,
satisfaction and goals. Social media usage by university students must,
therefore, be viewed using the lens of uses and gratification theory.
This
chapter reviewed the existing literature on social media usage in relation to
student’s academic performance. It basically looked at how social cites
facilitate academic performance for students. It further ventured into its
effectiveness in bringing about the desired goal and finally, it also covered
the challenges of the said sites. The chapter ends with the theoretical
framework that is in line with social media usage. The next chapter is about
the methodology that has been employed in collecting and analyzing the data in this
research project.
This chapter
basically covers the tools and methods that have been used in the collection,
analysing and presentation of data from the field. The specific contents of
this chapter include Research Approach, design, Area and population of the
study, sample selection and size, Sampling technique, research methods, data
collection and research instruments or tools, Data analysis and presentation, gender
consideration, ethical consideration, anticipated problems and finally the
conclusion.
According to Kothari (2004, P.5),
“there are two basic approaches to research, namely quantitative and the
qualitative approaches”. Mouton and Marais (1990) define the differences
between quantitative and qualitative research based on the operational
particularity of concepts, hypotheses, methods of observation and analysis. The
qualitative analysis aims at giving a complete, detailed description in the
form of words, pictures or objects while the quantitative analysis classifies
features, count them and construct statistical models in an attempt to explain
what is observed (Ton et al., 2008).
In this study, the researcher used methodological triangulation or the
mixed-method approach with a greater leaning towards the qualitative approach.
“A research design
is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a
manner that aims at combining relevance to the research purpose with economy in
procedure” (Kothari, 2004, P. 31). It is the conceptual structure within which
research is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection,
measurement and analysis of data. As such the design includes an outline of
what the researcher did
from writing the hypothesis and its operational implications to the final
analysis of data. Since the major thrust of this research is to provide an
accurate and valid representation of the role of social media in enhancing
students` academic performance. The researcher has used mainly descriptive
survey design to gather data relating to the topic in question where a
questionnaire was used as the main research tool alongside interview and
observation. Price (2001) says that any researcher who adopts the descriptive
research design attempts to produce data
that is holistic, contextual, descriptive in-depth and rich in detail.
The area of study is a particular
geographical region of the indefinite boundary from which the study is based.
For this research, the area of study has been Uganda Martyrs University-Nkozi
main campus. The target population refers to the specific
group relevant to a particular study within a given area of study. According to Mugenda et al. (2003) population is a group of individuals or objects that
have the same form of characteristics. They are the ―totality of cases that
conform to certain specifications, which defines the elements that are included
or excluded in the target group. The target population for this study,
therefore, has been the students of Uganda Martyrs University who have gadgets
that allow them to use social media.
A sample is a smaller number of the
population that is used to make conclusions regarding the whole population.
Sampling, therefore, is the systematic process of selecting several individuals
for a study to represent the larger group from which they were selected (Gay, 2011).
The sample size of this research has been 100 selected Uganda Martyrs
University students from the main campus Nkozi and from different faculties.
Sampling technique also called
sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given
population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would
adopt in selecting items for the sample (Kothari, 2004). Sample design is
determined before data is collected. There are generally two sampling
techniques: probability and non-probability sampling. The researcher
chose to use probability
sampling. Probability sampling methods are those in which every person in the
entire population has a known chance of being included in the study sample. The
selection process has chiefly been random and independent of the person doing
the research.
Research methods may be understood
as all those techniques that are used in the conduction of research. Research
methods or techniques, Kothari (2004) argues refer to the methods the
researchers use in performing research operations. In other words, all those
methods which are used by the researcher during the study are termed as
research methods. In this field investigation, therefore, the researcher has
used methodical triangulation which involves personal interview,
observation and
questionnaire.
Research tools according to Annan
(2019), are facts finding strategies and tools for collecting data. As far as
this study is concerned, the researcher used the interview guide and semi-structured
questionnaire. The semi-structured questionnaire is a more commonly used
interview technique that follows a framework to address key themes rather than
specific questions. At the same time, it allows a certain degree of flexibility
for the researcher to respond to the answers of the interviewee and therefore
develop the themes and issues as they arise.
Data analysis is studying the
organized material to discover inherent facts. The data are studied from as
many angles as possible to explore the new facts (Prabhat and Meenu, 2015). It
comprises examining, categorizing, tabulating or otherwise recombining the evidence
to address the initial propositions of the study. For the case of this
research, data collected using different research methods and tools has been analysed based on the
study approaches. For the qualitative data, the researcher adopted the
“bottom-up” approach in analyzing the data. According to Creswell (2012), this
analysis initially consists of developing a general sense of the data, and then
coding description and themes about the central phenomenon. The collected quantitative data has been analyzed using multiple
statistical descriptive and inferential statistical tests based on the research
question and the nature of the data.
Although conclusions from the Pew
research center (2017) holds that males and females use social media at similar
rates, according to Lim et al. (2017),
females perceive social media differently from males. Basing on these findings,
to ensure gender parity and equal representation of gender views in this study,
the researcher has used both male and female students equally to eliminate
biasing the findings from this study. Female students have been granted equal
chances as well as male students in this investigation.
In every research, ethical
consideration is key. The goal of the research ethics has been to ensure that
no one is harmed or suffers adverse consequences from the research activities.
Given the often-sensitive relationships between researcher and respondents, reasonable
precautions have been built in this study based on ethical considerations and
requirements. The researcher sought to get informed consent from every
respondent. Consequently, the information that the researcher received during
the period of this study has been treated with due confidentiality and purely
for academic purposes. Names of respondents have not been used or mentioned in
this study. Therefore, respondents have been assured of anonymity.
This research anticipated and met
many challenges in the field:
Ø
First,
due to the present world pandemic of Coronavirus commonly called COVID-19, the
required data has
not been obtained in time as it was formerly planned. This has caused an
extension in the accomplishment of the project.
Ø
Secondly,
some respondents declined to give information especially when it came to the
interview and some showed disinterest in the whole matter. This made the researcher
to source other students to fit in the gap.
Ø
The
researcher had also predicted that some of the respondents would not fill the
questionnaire in time and others may even fail to bring them back. This turned
out to be true. This affected the process of data analysis and presentation. As
for those who did not fill the questionnaire in time, the researcher had to
keep reminding them time and again until it was all done although it delayed
the process of data analysis.
Ø
It
has also been anticipated that this research would be expensive in the long run
due to the financial implication involved in the research process. This became
true and made it hard for the researcher to finish the project earlier as
intended before. The researcher considered using only the available resources
to facilitate the project.
3.10
Conclusion
In
brief, this chapter covers the procedures and methods that was followed in this
research project. It clearly describes the strategies that were employed in
collecting adequate and appropriate information to achieve the research
objectives. The next chapter presents the data, analysis and discusses the
findings.
In this chapter, the main focus is
the presentation of different findings from the field concerning The Role of Social Media in
Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance- The Case of Uganda Martyrs’
University Students. The study focused
on assessing how social media boosts the academic performance of students and
its effectiveness. The study also sought to assess the challenges that social
media poses to its users.
The data collected has been analyzed
and presented using both the quantitative and qualitative methods although much
of the data has been presented in qualitative form with keen and specific
attention to the objectives of the study and the literature reviewed in chapter
two.
This chapter is organized into three
sections. The first section looks at the demographic characteristics of the
respondents for this study. The second part looked at the field findings in
relation to the basic information background on the respondents’ use of social
media which included; the platform mostly used, the
place of access and the duration of access in a day while the third section
covers the findings in relation to the different
research questions.
This section provides information
about the background characteristics of the 98 respondents in relation to this
study. These characteristics have been grouped into three. as follows; gender,
age and the different faculties of the respondents.
This demographic presentation is intended to find
out the gender of the respondents. It helps to determine the relevance and
participation of both male and female in establishing the Role of Social Media in
Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance- The Case of Uganda Martyrs’
University Students.
Figure 1: Pie-chart showing the Gender
of the respondents
Source: Field findings, 2021
As
clearly observed from the above figure 1, 56 of the respondents are female constituting
57.2% of the total population of the respondents while 42 respondents are male,
translated into 42.8%. This ultimately show that there has been gender consideration
in the choice of the respondents although the female gender has been a little
bit higher in number. This is an indication that the findings from the field are
devoid of bias since there is nearly an equal representative sample of the
gender.
Under
this, the main concern was to find out the age bracket of the respondents and
their different experiences with the phenomenon of social media according to
their respective age brackets.
Table 1: Age brackets of the respondents
|
|
Age bracket
|
Total Number
|
Total Percentage %
|
|
1
|
17-25
|
81
|
82.6%
|
|
2
|
26-30
|
11
|
11.2%
|
|
3
|
31-35
|
4
|
4.08%
|
|
4
|
36-40
|
2
|
2.04%
|
|
5
|
41-45
|
0
|
0.0%
|
|
6
|
46-50
|
0
|
0.0%
|
|
|
Total
|
98
|
100%
|
As observed from the above table, it is clear
that the age bracket group that participated most in the research survey is
between 17-25 with total number of 81, standing for 82.6% of the total respondents.
This is followed by the age bracket between 26-30 with the total number of 11
respondents making up for 11.2% of the total number. The age bracket between
31-35 had 4 respondents with the total percentage of 4.08%. This is then
trailed by the age bracket between 36-40 with 2.04% of the total number of the
respondents. The age brackets between 42-45 and 46-50 had no respondents and
hence 0.0%. This means that most of the respondents are between the age bracket
of 17-25.
Since
the respondents of this research have been marked out to be some selected
students from different faculties, this part is intended to find out the
different faculties from which the respondents were sourced.
Bar-chart 1: Showing Respondents by Faculty
Source:
Field findings, 2021
From
the above Bar-chart, it can be concluded that the respondents to this survey
have been sourced from mainly 8 different faculties within the university. A
total of 18 respondents with the percentage of 18.3% came from the faculty of
Business Administration and Management (BAM). While 12 of the respondents
constituting 12.2% came from the Institute of Languages and Communication
Studies (ILaCs). 20 of the respondents with 20.4% of the total number came from
the faculty of Education (Educ). Meanwhile, the Faculty of Built Environment
(FoBE) had 8 respondents with 8.16%. From the Faculty of Law (LL. B), 10
respondents were sourced, making 10.2% of the total number of the respondents. The
faculty of SASS had 5 respondents with 5.10% while the Faculty of Science had
12 respondents, constituting 12.2% of the total respondents whereas, the
Faculty of Agriculture had 8 respondents with 8.16%. However, a total of 5
respondents did not identify their respective faculties.
From
the analysis of the chart above, it is clear that all the faculties within the
university had a representation in number of respondents sourced. The Faculty
of education has the highest number of respondents. The chart information implies
that the data collected came from all the different faculties which is a good
representative sample for this survey.
This
is the second section in this chapter. It is intended to get the basic
information background on the use of social media by the different respondents.
This covers the platform
mostly used, the place of access and the duration of accessing the platform per
day.
Source:
Field Findings, 2021
From
the pie chart above it is observed that the
respondents who use mostly WhatsApp are 18, constituting 23% of the total
population of the respondents. The Facebook users turned out to be the highest
with 42 of the respondents making 43% while those who use Twitter mostly are
10, accounting for 10%. Surprisingly, the users of LinkedIn which is one of the
most professional social sites turned out the lowest with 2% of the total
number of the respondents. Alongside this, those who said they use all these
platforms equally are 18, making 23% of the total population of the
respondents. These statistics pose some worry already because from the onset,
most of the respondents are more into using platforms that are less academic
but more of social interaction like Facebook and WhatsApp. While academic and
more professional sites like Twitter and LinkedIn are used by few. This is
already enough caution in as far as this research is concerned.
4.2.2 Places
where students access social media
Source:
Field findings, 2021
This
section has been created to cater for the different places that respondents
access social media from. The search on this was intended to gage whether students
use social media for academic related purposes or social interactions depending
on the place of access. Basing on the chart, of all the respondents, only 8 of
them constituting 8.16% acknowledged accessing social media from the library
which is thought to be the best place for academic work, consultation and
research. In the same vein, only 6 of the respondents, making up 6.12% said
they access social media from class. This is positive in the sense that it can
aid the understanding of what is being taught although it can also be negative
to the effect that it can distract the learner from class activities. 12 of the
respondents making up 12.24% said they access social media from their rooms.
This could have nothing to do with academic but social interaction although it
can also be possible that someone is in his or her private room doing an
assignment or reading or making consultations.
Surprisingly,
the highest number of the respondents acknowledged accessing these platforms
from all the places i.e. library, class, and private rooms which is a clear
indication that most of people do access social media platforms wherever they
are. It is a clear sign that they are easily distracted in their academic life
since the social media gadgets are very close to them as they are doing
academic activities.
Source:
Field findings, 2021
As
highlighted in the line-chart above, 20 respondents with percentage of 20.4%
spend 2-3 hours every day on social media while 48.9% of the respondents agreed
to the fact that they spend 4-5 hours on social media every day. On the other
hand, 12 respondents at 12.2% of the total
number of the respondents said they spend 5-6 hours every day on social media. Meanwhile,
18 respondents at 18.3% of the total respondents said that they actually spend
24 hours on social media. This leaves a lot to be questioned. First of all, it implies
that a number of respondents are easily distracted from constructive activities
including academics because they are most of the time on social media even
during class hours. Though some may be
genuinely using social media platforms for a rightful set purpose at a right
given time.
This is the third
section in this chapter. It is intended to bring out the findings in relation to the different
objectives and research questions. This is done following the order of
objectives statement from one to another ranging from
Strongly agree (SA), Agree (A), Neutral (N), Disagree (D) to Strongly disagree
(SD).
To find out more about
this first research question, six statements were formulated. These sought to
investigate on how social media simplifies students` academic life that
ultimately reflected in their performance.
Table 2: Response on how
social media enhances students` academic performance
Source: Field findings,
2021
Results
from table 2 above indicates that majority of the participants have chosen the categories
strongly Agree (SA) to Agree (A) for most of the statements. For instance, a
total of 83.5% of the participants strongly agreed and agreed with only 8.1%
disagreeing while 8.1% remained neutral to the statement “We have a social media
group for some of my courses for easy connections” whereas the statement ‘I
engage in academic discussions on social media platforms’ has 77.5% of the
participants` consent with only 16.3% disagreement.
It is also noted that a total percentage of
71.3% agreed and strongly agreed to the statement ‘I follow the latest
developments in my field through social media’ with 18.3 disagreeing while
10.2% chose to remain neutral. The results further show that for the statement
‘I communicate with the professor through social media’ 61.1% of the
respondents agreed and strongly agreed to it meanwhile a total of 14.2% of the
respondents disagreed and 24.4% remained neutral. The statement ‘I communicate
with the professor through social media’ has 75.4% of the respondents agreeing
as compared to the 16.2% disagreements and the last statement ‘Social
media has made my academic life easy’ has 73.4% of the participants agreeing
and strongly agreeing while 14.28% disagreed to it with 12.2 remaining neutral.
Thus,
the qualitative results imply that
majority of the students use social media networks as a communication platform
due to the various number of available features and benefits including academic
related issues as earlier on argued by Apuke (2016) in chapter two. For example, they can reach each other easily and quickly
via WhatsApp groups whether by texting, voice notes or video calls.
This finding is arrived
at basing on the fact that, in most of the statements, the percentage of the
total respondents who fell in the category of strongly agree to agree are all
above 60%. Above all, the total number
of the participants who chose the category of strongly agree to agree for all
the six hypothetical statements are 434 of 588 with 73.7% whereas the total
number of those who fell within the category of disagree to strongly disagree
for all the six statements are 86 with the total percentage of 14.6% while a
total of 68 with 11.5% remained neutral. This according to the primary date as
indicated in the above table, confirms the assertion that social media helps to
ease the academic work of students. However, what is still unclear is whether
this can be translated into good academic performance of students at the end of
it all.
A pie-chart representation of the
summary of percentages on how social media enhances academic performance
Whereas
the first research question was meant to investigate on how social media
enhances the academic performance for students, research question two was
intended to assess the effectiveness of social media in enhancing students`
academic performance. To confirm this, six statements were framed to this
effect as here shown both numerically and percentage form in table 3 below:
Table 3: Response on the effectiveness of social media in relation to
students` academic performance.
|
|
Questions
|
F
|
SA
|
A
|
N
|
D
|
SD
|
TOTAL
|
|
1
|
Social media has impacted my GPA positively
|
F
|
10
|
40
|
26
|
14
|
8
|
98
|
|
|
|
%
|
10.2
|
40.8
|
26.5
|
14.2
|
8.1
|
|
|
2
|
I solely rely on
information got from social media to do my assignments without consulting
other sources
|
F
|
8
|
20
|
26
|
38
|
14
|
98
|
|
|
|
%
|
8.1
|
20.4
|
26.5
|
38.7
|
14.2
|
|
|
3
|
Sometimes I use social media to understand
more what I have been taught in class
|
F
|
26
|
34
|
18
|
8
|
12
|
98
|
|
|
|
%
|
26.5
|
34.6
|
18.3
|
8.1
|
12.2
|
|
|
4
|
I use social media extensively because
most of my course
assignments/projects are in the forms of blogs/online presentations
|
F
|
24
|
38
|
8
|
18
|
10
|
98
|
|
|
|
%
|
24.4
|
38.7
|
8.1
|
18.3
|
10.2
|
|
|
5
|
Using Social media regularly has improved my communication
skills
|
F
|
14
|
46
|
8
|
18
|
12
|
98
|
|
|
|
%
|
14.2
|
46.9
|
8.1
|
18.3
|
12.2
|
|
|
6
|
All the material I get from social media is always correct
|
F
|
4
|
10
|
32
|
30
|
10
|
98
|
|
|
|
%
|
4.08
|
10.2
|
32.6
|
30.6
|
10.2
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
|
86
|
188
|
118
|
126
|
66
|
588
|
|
|
|
%
|
14.6
|
31.9
|
20.0
|
21.4
|
11.2
|
100%
|
Source:
Field findings, 2021
From
the table 3 above, a total of 51% of the respondents fell within the category
of strongly agree to agree for the first hypothetical statement ‘Social media have
impacted my GPA positively’, while a total of 22.3% chose the categories of
disagree to strongly disagree with the total of 26.5% choosing to remain
neutral. However, when it comes to the second statement; ‘I solely rely on
information got from social media to do my assignments without consulting other
sources’, the primary data analysis as indicated in table 3 above shows that more
participants with 52% chose the categories of disagree to strongly disagree
with only 28.5% agreeing to it while 26.5 remained neutral to the hypothesis.
Statement 3 ‘Sometimes I use social media to
understand more what I have been taught in class’ attracted a combined total of
61.1% of the respondents who strongly agreed and agreed to it implying that a
greater percentage of the total number of students sometimes use social media
to that effect. Meanwhile, 20.3% of the combined number of the respondents
disagreed and strongly disagreed to this statement with 18.3% of the
participants in the survey remained neutral. In the same vein, statement 4
which says; ‘I use social media extensively because most of my course
assignments/projects are in the forms of blogs/online presentations’ also
attracted 63.1% of the participants falling within the combined categories of
strongly agree to agree and a total of 28.5% falling within the categories of
disagree to strongly disagree while 8.1% chose the neutral category.
Statement 5 sought to
know whether using social media is effective in improving one’s communication
skills. Here, the primary data as tabulated above, indicate that 61.1% of the total
respondents chose the categories of strongly agree to agree as opposed to the
30.5% who chose disagree to strongly disagree while 8.1% fell in the neutral
category to hypothetical statement. Interestingly, statement 6 which
hypothesises that all the materials got from social media is always correct, show a
bigger number of 40.8% of the respondents falling within the categories of
disagree to disagree compared to the 14.8% of the participants who agreed to
this. 32.6% however, chose to remain neutral.
All in all, the quantitative description here
indicates that the total number of the respondents who chose to strongly agree
and agree with all the six statements are 274 of the 588 respondents,
accounting for 46.5% while a total of 192 with 32.6% fell within the
disagreement categories, leaving 118 with 20.0% remaining neutral to all the
six statements. This reveals that social media is not so much effective in
enhancing academic performance of students considering the fact that the total
percentage of agreements does not reach 50% although from the tabulation it
seems to be higher than the percentage of the total disagreements. What is more
interesting is the 118 participants who chose to remain neutral to all the six
statements. This shows that of all those who use social media, almost 20% of
them are not sure whether it is effective in bringing a positive change in
their academic performance or not.
A Pie chart percentage summary on
the effectiveness of social media
4.3.3 Challenges social media poses
to students in their academic endeavors
Following
from the first and second objectives of the study, this third objective is
designed to investigate the challenges that social media poses to students in
their academic endeavors. As it is with all the other objectives, six
hypothetical statements were formulated to be confirmed or disagreed with by
the participants in this study survey as shown in the table below:
Source: Field
findings, 2021
Table 4 above has
demonstrated that more than half of the students were within the categories
“agree” to “strongly agree” for the statements “The hours I spend online on
social media are more than the hours I spend reading with a combined 53% of the
respondents and on the statement “Once I interrupt my study time with social
media, I lose concentration” recording the highest combined percentage of 78.4%
of the total number of the respondents.
The statement ‘Social media have impacted my
GPA negatively’ has registered the highest number of the participants falling
in the category of neutral with 40.8%. The total percentage of 30.5% falling
within the categories of strongly agree to agree while 30.6% accounted for the
respondents who fell within the combined categories of disagree to strongly
disagree. This implies that quite a good number of students are not even sure
whether social media contribute positively or negatively to their academic
results.
Although most of the
participants in this study agreed that social media poses many challenges to
them, the statement of ‘Social media has negatively impacted on my writing
skills’ recorded the highest number of respondents choosing to strongly
disagree and disagree with the statement with combined 48.9% as opposed to the
34.6% falling within the categories of strongly agree to agree while 16.3%
chose to remain neutral.
Meanwhile, the statement
‘I use social media for making new friends and socializing more than I use it
for academic purposes’ has recorded 63.2% of the participants who agreed and
strongly agreed with the statement. 28.5% of the total respondents chose to
disagree and strongly disagree with the statement with 8.1% remaining neutral
to it. This implies that even though a good percentage of the participants use
social media more for making new friends, some people use it for academic
related purposes as here represented by 28.5%.
In a nutshell however,
the primary data as reflected in the table 4 above indicate that a total 300
out of 588 participants chose to agree and strongly agree with all the six
statements, making up for 50.9%. Whereas, a total of 188 of the participants
fell within the categories of disagree to strongly disagree with all the six
hypothetical statements, accounting for 31.9% of the total respondents. This
leaves a total of 102 of the participants with the percentage of 17.3% choosing
to remain neutral to all the six statements under the research question 3
(three). The findings therefore reflect that more than half of the total
students acknowledged that social media is a big challenge to them
Interestingly, the qualitative results obtained from the interview
indicate that of all those interviewed, none of them hinted on the negative
sides of social media when asked about their views on social networking sites
in relation to education. This reveals the inconsistency in the reports. While
reports from the questionnaire reflects a greater number of the participants
agreeing with the challenges of social media to education, reports from the
interview records non but praises. This means that the findings from this
research may not be very conclusive. There should be more research in this area
to probe the respondents more on the
challenges experienced so as to strike a balance.
A Pie chart percentage summary on the challenges social media poses to
students
This study investigated The Role of Social Media in
Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance- The Case of Uganda Martyrs’
University Students. It focused on
assessing how social media boosts the academic performance of students and its
effectiveness. The study also sought to assess the challenges that social media
poses to its users.
Surprisingly, in this study, majority of the participants
indicated using social
media in academic related purposes such as: sharing
information with classmates and having social
media groups for some of the courses and following the latest developments in their field through social media. However, in
chapter two of this study, Alwagait (2015), had shown that students are hardly interested in using social media
networks for study related knowledge. The
difference may be explained by the fact that the above study was done six years
ago and according to Vorderer (2016) the use of social media is rapidly increasing especially among the younger
generation. This may explain why the above finding in the present research
differs with the cited literature. Thus, as was shown in the results, majority
of the participants use social media in academic
related purposes but they do not solely rely
on it which might show that the students are
aware that social media is not a credible pool of information.
Even though it is revealed
that a good number of students use social media for academic related purposes,
this study has also confirmand that the number of hours students spend on
social media are more than the hours they spend reading. This is consistent
with the previous study by Krischner
and Karpinski (2010) recorded in chapter two of this
study. They maintain that, some students do not have control on their
social media while engaged in academic activities and that they spend more time
on these networks than they do studying or sleeping. This
has also been supported by Lau (2017). He noted that media multitasking behavior is a predictor of a poor
academic performance and that it affects the
students’ concentration particularly during studying. These scholarly records
are also consistent with the findings of Kuppuswamy and Narayan (2010),
cited in chapter two of this research. They emphasize that social network sites
distract the attention and concentration of students toward learning and
convert it towards non-educational activities such as useless chatting. Hence,
calling for judicious sieving of these platforms if they must facilitate good
academic performance among students.
In the present study, the
results indicated that there is a negative correlation between
the time spent on social media and the students’ academic performance. On the
other hand, the present study also indicates that
there is a positive correlation between study hours
and academic performance and negative correlation between the time spent on
social media and the time spent studying, consequently,
the more students use social media the less
they study and the lower their GPA becomes. This is consistent with what Junco
(2013) observed in chapter two of this study.
It
is worrying noting that more than half the population in
this study stated that the time they spend on social
media is more than the time they spend
studying and that they lose concentration once their study is interrupted or
interfered by social media. This is in
agreement with the previous study by Apuke (2016). He notes that
in many parts of the world today, students' academic performance is facing
neglect and challenges since the advent of social networking sites because they
dedicate more attention to social media than they do to their studies. This, as
accented to by 75.4% of the total number of the participants, makes them lose
concentration.
The primary data of this study has also
revealed that most of the participants disagree with the fact that using social
media has affected their writing skills. In fact, 49% of the respondents
disagreed while only 34.6% agreed to it. This is inconsistent with what Rideout (2012) said in chapter two
of this research. He opines that, social media has negatively impacted
on students` writing skills, due to their regular use of slang language and
word abbreviations. The findings from this research have to a greater extent
disapproved this assertion about the use of social media because, most of the
participants disagreed with the statement that using social media have impacted
on their writing skills negatively.
4.5 Conclusion
In conclusion, this chapter majorly looked
at Data presentation, analysis and discussion of findings based on the
available primary data. This now leads to chapter five of this study where we
shall have Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations based on the above discussed
findings from the study.
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This
last chapter majorly covers the summary of the research, conclusion drawn from
the findings and finally gives recommendations drawn from the findings of the
study based on both primary and secondary data cited in the research.
The research sought to find out the Role of Social Media in
Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance- a Case of Uganda Martyrs’ University
Students. The study focusses on
assessing how social media boosts the academic performance of students and its
effectiveness. The study also sought to assess the challenges that social media
poses to its users.
The five chapters on different issues; chapter one
covers the introduction to the study, chapter two explores related works of
other authors about social media while chapter three covers the methods used to
collect both primary and secondary data to arrive at the finding dealt with in
chapter four. Generally, chapter four is dedicated to presentation of raw data,
analysis and interpretation of the data while chapter five the last of all, gives
the summary, conclusion and recommendations in relation to the findings.
In order to realise this research report, 98
participants were engaged to respond to a total of four research questions
formulated to help the researcher get deeper into the phenomenon of social media
in relation to students` academic performance.
The first specific objective of the study was meant to
establish the fact that social media simplifies academic performance for Uganda
Martyrs University Students. This was exhaustively searched on using six
hypothetical statements that confirm the fact that social media simplifies
students’ academic studies and amplifies their performance. This was verified
by the collected data where 73.7% totally agreed with the statement, 14.7%
disagreed and 11.5% were neutral.
The second specific objective sought to assess the
effectiveness of social media in enhancing the academic performance for Uganda
Martyrs University Students. The six hypothetical statements formulated to this
effect indicate that 46.5% of the respondents agreed to the fact that social
media is very effective in enhancing students’ academic performance while 32.6%
disagreed and 20.0% remained neutral to the hypothetical statements. Generally,
the percentages indicate that social media plays a bigger role in students’
academic performance by either improving the CGPA or reducing it depending on
the way it is used.
The third specific objective addressed the
challenges social media poses to students in their academic endeavours.
Similarly, the six hypothetical statements applied to this objective indicated
that 50.9% of the respondents agreed to the challenges faced by students while
using the social media for academic purposes. 31.9% did not agree with all the
statements while 17.3% neither agreed nor disagreed, thus remained neutral. Observation
of these percentages make it clear that students do face a lot of challenges
using social media. Some of these challenges
are: poor internet services, data cost, government interferences like taxes,
uncensored content and many others.
Finally, the fourth objective sought to get some
possible solutions to the challenges of social media. The qualitative results
indicate that most of the respondents agreed that as part of the possible
remedies to the challenges students face in accessing social media, telecom
companies should work hard to see to it that they improve on network
distribution so that even those in remote places can access social media with
ease. Still, most of the participants suggested
that social media users should budget their time well and reduce on the number
of hours they spend on the different social media platforms to avoid addiction
and destruction from academic related issues.
From the results of the present study, it can be concluded that
the majority of the participants use social media for academic related purposes
as means of communication, they use it to connect with their colleagues in
order to discuss class related contents. Similarly, it can also be concluded
that even though the majority use social media for academic related purposes,
some others use social media just for interaction with friends and
strengthening their social fabric.
Interestingly,
this study also shows that there are three different students’ opinion of the
social media effect on their academic performance, according to the survey
analysis, the students are divided into three groups. The first group believes
that social media has a positive effect on their academic performance, the
second group believes that social media has a negative effect on their academic
performance, and the third group believes that social media does not have any
effects on their academic performance. This is the group labelled as neutral.
This leads to the conclusion that the relationship between the social media
usage and the academic performance depends on the way students use social
media.
This
explains the positive and negative correlation between the students’ academic
GPA and the time they spend on social media, which can be addressed by
increasing the students’ awareness about the double-edged effects of social
media, these are the opportunities and addiction effects it exerts on its
users.
From
the findings also, it can be concluded that for those who use social media
judiciously for academic related purposes, their academic life is enhanced as
compared to those who use it to strengthen their social fabric only. This
conclusion is drawn from the findings under the first specific objective of the
study where the majority of the respondents confirmed that social media
enhances their academic life.
As
much as social media makes academic life of its users easy as evidenced in the
first objective, it can also be concluded that the said social sites are not
very effective in bringing about academic excellence for the reason that some
of the social media content is not authentic and users do not solely rely on
those materials but consults other sources for surety. Thus, social media needs
a lot of consciousness if one must use it. This conclusion is drawn from the
findings in the objective two of this study where a great majority disagreed
with fact that social media is very effective in enhancing students` academic
performance.
It
can also be concluded that social media poses a big challenge to students`
academic life simply for the reason that some students spend more time chatting
and making friends than spending time on academic issues and the number of
hours spent on social media are higher that the time they spend reading
academic materials. This draws them near to the vice of addiction. This
conclusion is drawn from the third objective of the study where majority of the
respondents, agreed to the fact that social media truly poses a big challenge
to their academic life.
All
in all, it can be concluded that from the findings, social media can either be
good or bad depending on how you use it. For those who see it as a fertile
ground for getting academic related content, they draw from it what they want.
For those who think social media is majorly for socialisation and making
friends, they reap no more than what they think. It is also important to note
that, imprudent use of social media can lead one into addiction. Therefore,
care must always be taken when using it.
From the study findings of this research, the following
recommendations have been brought forward to the different stake holders. These
are; Students, University administration, government and Uganda communications
commission.
Having
seen the dangers of over using social media, students should be given a Social
media education course to mentor their attitude towards social media usage, to
instill in them better ways of using the social media, to encourage them to reduce
on the number of hours they spend on social media and to spend more time on
reading academic content. This will safeguard them from
getting addicted to the use of social media which in the long run, impacts
negatively on their academic performance always reflected in the GPA.
Students should be encouraged to always filter every information
they get from social media and avoid forwarding unverified information to
others. This will protect them from using fake content in their academic work
as they consult the social media for academic purposes.
Students should also be encouraged to make use of the books in the
library to inform their research and studies and stop relying solely on
information got from social media since it is discovered to be a hot bed for
fake information and thus, dangerous to its users who only depend on it.
This study also recommends that instead of being on social sites
for interaction and strengthening
their social fabric, students should venture more into some
professional sites like LinkedIn Twitter and Blog. This will help expose them
to the people who matter and open up for them opportunities that they need in
their studies.
From
the study findings, the researcher recommends that university administration
should consider including social media usage and literacy to all students in
different faculties. This would help them to use social media with carefulness
and pay attention to the vices of the said social sites as they engage in its
usage. It will also help the students to have a positive constructive attitude
towards social media usage and also be selective in using social media
information
The
university should also consider creating many other social sites alongside
Moodle that are strictly for academic purposes. This will help keep students
engaged most of the time and thus, have less time to concentrate on other
social sites that only take them away from their study times and destructs them
the more. This will help them to communicate effectively to fellow young
people.
All
the stakeholders and especially Communication Commission of Uganda and network
providers need to come up with means of filtering information that reaches the
young people through social media platforms. This will help in minimizing
exposure to pornographic and other unwarranted materials that has nothing to do
with their academic life.
Above
all, Uganda Communications Commission alongside with social media service
providers should consider improving on the different networks that provide
internet to the students at subsidized costs. This would be of great help to
students who mostly use social media for academic related purposes to access
the content they need with ease.
Telephone
companies in particular should consider reducing on data cost so that students
who use internet to access academic content he helped not to over spend their
money on data but if data cost is reduced, they would access their needed
content at low cost on data.
To help students access social media at reduced cost, the
government should wave-off the taxes levied on social media data for the case
of Uganda. And above all, the government should also intervene in the network
distribution instead of leaving it to the private companies who are most of the
time limited to some places only like the urban centres and leaving the rural
places in dire need.
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Technology
UGANDA
MARTYRS UNIVERSITY NKOZI
P.O.
Box 5498, Kampala
Dear respondent,
I
am Ogwang Lawrence, a student of the above-named institution. I am currently
undertaking a research project and the purpose of the research is to find out: THE
ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ENHANCING STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE- The Case of
Uganda Martyrs’ University Students. This will lead to the award of a bachelors Degree in Journalism and Mass
Communication of Uganda
Martyrs University.
I hereby request you to help me fulfill this academic requirement by answering
this questionnaire. All information gathered shall be used purely for research
purposes and shall be treated with confidentiality.
Yours
sincerely,
Ogwang Lawrence (+256782516677 +256392556678)
(Researcher)
SECTION A (PERSONAL
INFORMATION)
NB. (Tick the most appropriate)
- What is your gender?
Male Female
- What
is your age bracket?
17-25 26-30 31-35
36-40
41-45
45-50
- What
is your faculty? ........................................... Year (Class)......................................
- What
social media platforms do you use?
Facebook
WhatsApp
Twitter
LinkedIn
Blogger
Any other
Specify..................................
- When
did you begin to use social media?
- From
high school
b. From
University
c. From
primary
- Where
do you use mostly social media?
a. In
class
b. In the library
c. In my room
d. All the above
places
- How
long do you use social media in a day?
- 2-3
hours
b. 4-5 hours
c. 5-6
hours d. 24 hours
e. Any other?
Specify..................
SECTION
B. (Instructions: Instructions: Please
read each statement carefully and tick the most appropriate answer)
1. How social
media simplify academic performance for students
|
|
Statements
on research Question 1
|
Strongly
agree
|
Agree
|
Neutral
|
Disagree
|
Strongly
disagree
|
|
1
|
I engage in academic
discussions on social media
platforms
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
I follow the latest developments in my field through social
media.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
We have a social media group for some of my courses for easy
connections
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
I communicate with the professor through social media.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
It is easier
for me to get academic materials through social media
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
Social media
has made my academic life easy
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. The effectiveness of
social media in enhancing the academic performance of
students
|
|
Statements on research Question 2
|
Strongly agree
|
Agree
|
Neutral
|
Disagree
|
Strongly disagree
|
|
1
|
Social media have
impacted my GPA positively
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
I solely rely on
information got from social media to do my assignments without consulting
other sources
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Sometimes I use social
media to understand more what I have been taught in class
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
I use social media
extensively because
most of my course
assignments/projects are in the forms of blogs/online presentations
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
Using Social media
regularly has improved my communication skills
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
All
the materials I get from social media are always correct
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. Challenges social media poses to students in their
academic endeavours
|
|
Statements on research Question 3
|
Strongly agree
|
Agree
|
Neutral
|
Disagree
|
Strongly disagree
|
|
1
|
Once I interrupt my study time with social
media, I lose concentration
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
Social media have
impacted my GPA
negatively
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Social media has
negatively impacted on my writing skills
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
Online social networks
distract me from my studies
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
The hours I spend
online on social media are more than the hours I spend reading
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
I use social media for
making new friends and socializing more than I use it for academic purposes
|
|
|
|
|
|
SECTION C (Your
views)
4.
what is your view on how students use social media?
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
5.
what challenges do you get in using social media?
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
6.
What solutions can you offer to the above challenges?
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END
Thanks for your cooperation
